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Dark Portrait of "Painter of Light" - Thomas Kincade in his true glory

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GCP Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 08:19 AM
Original message
Dark Portrait of "Painter of Light" - Thomas Kincade in his true glory
Edited on Sun Mar-05-06 08:20 AM by Godlesscommieprevert
The schlock-meister is not only a horrible painter, but it turns out a horribie (but "Christian") human-being also:

"Thomas Kinkade is famous for his luminous landscapes and street scenes, those dreamy, deliberately inspirational images he says have brought "God's light" into people's lives, even as they have made him one of America's most collected artists.

A devout Christian who calls himself the "Painter of Light," Kinkade trades heavily on his beliefs and says God has guided his brush — and his life — for the last 20 years."

snip

"In litigation and interviews with the Los Angeles Times, some former gallery owners depict Kinkade, 48, as a ruthless businessman who drove them to financial ruin at the same time he was fattening his business associates' bank accounts and feathering his nest with tens of millions of dollars."

snip

"Last month, however, a three-member panel of the American Arbitration Assn. ordered his company to pay $860,000 for defrauding the former owners of two failed Virginia galleries. That decision marks the first major legal setback for Kinkade, who won three previous arbitration claims. Five more are pending.

It's not just Kinkade's business practices that have been called into question. Former gallery owners, ex-employees and others say his personal behavior also belies the wholesome image on which he's built his empire.

In sworn testimony and interviews, they recount incidents in which an allegedly drunken Kinkade heckled illusionists Siegfried & Roy in Las Vegas, cursed a former employee's wife who came to his aid when he fell off a barstool, and palmed a startled woman's breasts at a signing party in South Bend, Ind."
And then there is Kinkade's proclivity for "ritual territory marking," as he called it, which allegedly manifested itself in the late 1990s outside the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim."

The LA Times has nailed him with a long article - he's scum pure and simple, just like his so-called "art".

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-fi-kinkade5mar05,1,4087706.story?coll=la-headlines-frontpage
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Flubadubya Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 08:25 AM
Response to Original message
1. A real Con-Artist!
:rofl:
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LostinVA Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 08:41 AM
Response to Reply #1
7. *rim shot*
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DrRang Donating Member (415 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 09:29 AM
Response to Reply #1
26. The art equivalent of eating that chemical sugar frosting out of tubes.
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kurth Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 08:27 AM
Response to Original message
2. And people pay money for his SHIT?
What an asshole.
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Skidmore Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 08:28 AM
Response to Original message
3. I have a sister-in-law who collects his work....
love her dearly and I don't know if she could handle this article.
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no_hypocrisy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 08:37 AM
Response to Reply #3
6. Ca. 2 yrs ago, "60 Minutes" had a piece on TK. There was a
"collector" like your sister who had something like 34 "paintings", displayed on nearly every inch of wall space in her home. She considered them to be "investments", to be appreciated financially and aesthetically in the future like the Masters.
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kskiska Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-06-06 01:04 AM
Response to Reply #6
71. Morley Safer did the 60 Minutes piece tongue-in-cheek
The woman even had Kinkaide paintings stashed in closets and rotated them with the ones on the walls because she didn't have enough wall space. Kinkaide had three price options: The most expensive paintings were originals done exclusively by him. The medium-priced ones were prints with highlights painted on top by his employees. The cheapest were plain old prints. It was clear to see that Safer thought these were crap, but he humored the Kinkaide followers and they never suspected they were being made sport of.
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TallahasseeGrannie Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 08:29 AM
Response to Original message
4. Thanks for the first real laugh of the morning!
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Bunny Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 08:36 AM
Response to Original message
5. Listen to this asshole:
<snip>
Cote and Kopec said they also saw the alleged groping.

"She let out a yelp and backed away," Kopec said. "That's when I knew he had actually touched her."

Kinkade testified in a deposition that excessive drinking and "some normal rowdy talk" had taken place, but when confronted with the groping allegation, he denied touching the woman.

"But you've got to remember," he said, "I'm the idol to these women who are there. They sell my work every day, you know. They're enamored with any attention I would give them. I don't know what kind of flirting they were trying to do with me. I don't recall what was going on that night."
<snip>

Emphasis added is mine. What a dickhead.
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Vogon_Glory Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 08:42 AM
Response to Original message
8. Kinkade, Saint Paul, and the Usual Right-Wing Cudgels
Edited on Sun Mar-05-06 09:01 AM by VogonGlory
Thank you for posting the article. It would seem that someone would do well to clean up his act. Of course, I doubt we'll hear anything about this in the right-wing press, save in passing remarks that "libruls" were trashing Thomas Kinkade in the "liberal" Los Angeles Times.

However, if Thomas Kinkade were a liberal like the Baldwin Brothers, Barbara Streisand, or Danny Glover, you can bet the right-wingers would be in full cry. If Kincade were a Christian liberal, right-wingers would be quick to quote Saint Paul's letter to the Galatians.

"For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh; for they are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you would. Now the works of the flesh are plain: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, party spirit, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of G*d."

I'm looking forward to the tidal wave of right-wing indignation concerning the wayward behavior of yet another American celebrity. :sarcasm:
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DoYouEverWonder Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 08:56 AM
Response to Reply #8
15. St Paul - another pervert
That's why the Pauline Christians follow him.
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warrior1 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 08:45 AM
Response to Original message
9. check this out.
http://www.nndb.com/people/701/000026623/




Looks, nelly to me.

snip


Sexual orientation: Straight

Tell me why this is necessary?



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BiggJawn Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 11:34 AM
Response to Reply #9
46. What's with that "Village People" moustache?
Maybe he's an admirer of Tom of Finland?
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Divernan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 08:47 AM
Response to Original message
10. I went to one of his signing parties at a local country club.
I wasn't familiar with his work, but a friend had paid a couple of grand for a "limited edition" and got an invite for this party at a semi-posh club - free bar, good food, etc., so we went. I was amazed to learn that this unimaginative "artist" does a painting. Then he makes tens of thousands of prints on various quality canvases, and pays other "artists" to dab a few bits of real paint on the prints. The more dabs, the more the suckers pay. So this party was PACKED with true believers/collectors. Conversations consisted of, "I have 10 of his pictures, how many do you have?" Or, "Well, I just bought "picture title" for $4,000 and it's already increased in value $500." My reply, "You mean you've been offered $4,500 for your picture?" "No, the dealer who sold it to me told me it was worth $500 more than I was paying for it."

Now, I can't afford to pay $1,000s of dollars for original art. I have a couple of small pieces or early 20th century work which I bought at auction for a couple of $100 each. I bought them because I love to look at them - not as an investment. But even with my limited knowledge of the art market, no way in hell is some bland PRINT, with a "limited edition" of tens of thousands worth more than something you pick up for $50 at a starving artist sale.

I was not an art history major, but I've visited many excellent museums for retrospectives of some of the world's most revered artists, and I have a good collection of books on fine art. I've listened to some wonderful docents give great interpretations and explanations of the meaning of paintings. At this Kincaid party, about the only comment I head was ecstasy over the fact that he'd included a cross in some of the paintings, and the belief that that made them much more valuable. I don't think most of Kincaid's collectors have set foot in a fine museum or would know the difference between a Picasso and a Matisse.
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KittyWampus Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 08:52 AM
Response to Reply #10
12. Sounds like a pyramind scheme... or the beanie babies of the art world.
Edited on Sun Mar-05-06 08:53 AM by cryingshame
when the market finally collapses, lot of people will feel really stupid.
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petronius Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 03:40 PM
Response to Reply #12
56. That was my reaction to a lot of the article
Kinkade sounds like a real pig-boy, but I was a bit less sympathetic to many of the gallery owners' complaints - it sounds like they invested their life savings into a business selling crappy, intrinsically-worthless 'art' and didn't pay close enough attention to the deal becasue the artist has 'Christian values' ... I hate to see people get screwed, but what did they expect?

The beanie-baby comparison is very apt - this schlock can't possibly have long-term investment value...
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Vogon_Glory Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 09:05 AM
Response to Reply #10
18. In The Long Run, Younger DUers Will Hear
In the long run (Unless the fundamentalist right-wingers succeed in blowing up the planet), younger DU readers should live long enough to hear young people ask them "Who the heck was Thomas Kincade and why was his stuff so popular?"
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Cassandra Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 03:22 PM
Response to Reply #10
54. I was at the ArtExpo in NYC the last few days...
Edited on Sun Mar-05-06 03:42 PM by Cassandra
and learned a few things. There are what are called giclee prints available these days; archival ink-jet prints on archival paper or canvas. Many artists had or offered them but at prices much lower than $1,000. These days you don't even have to pay someone to daub texture on a print; there are processes that will do it for you. Some people don't even have originals; the art lives only in their computer until they print it out. One artist had a multitude of computer designed, charming, silly animal and bird prints that were hilarious (and small) for $125, framed. That seemed an appropriate price to me. There was no shortage of schlock at that show and also some wonderful work, too. The surrealists were a lot of fun (and very popular). There were lots of nudes, landscapes, street scenes, ho hum, plus an excess of very earnest artists trying very hard to be noticed.
I was an art history major and I recommend you not confuse the art market with Kinkade, who is really in a collectible market, like barbed wire, beer cans and license plates. His work will have value as long as there is someone willing to pay for them. Just have some pity for those who think it's great art.
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cali Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 08:48 AM
Response to Original message
11. I HATE Thomas Kinkade
I realize that's a little strong, but for some reason this guy gets under my skin. His excrement represents much that is wrong with this country. It's sentimental, fake, crassly commercial and devoid of any real values. It's also incredibly creepy. I see one of those wee cottages with it's glowing windows as the dusk crawls over the flower encrusted garden, and I imagine that inside some self-righteous fundie repuke is raping his 6 year old or beating his wife, or maybe burying his girlfriend out back.

OK, OK. You're thinking what the hell??? I guess I just have a visceral response to the nasty stuff he cranks out.
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GCP Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 08:55 AM
Response to Reply #11
13. That's my reaction also - complete crap posing as art
The thing that really struck me in the article is his habit of pissing wherever he feels the urge - apparently even in an elevator once - so your thoughts on the dark side of the paintings maybe isn't too far off base.
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SpaceCatMeetsMars Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 09:05 AM
Response to Reply #11
17. There's definitely something creepy-looking about it, it's so
unreal-looking to me, sort of nightmarish. Someone had one of those photo shop contests using his work and the results were hilarious. People added all kinds of weird, perverted things to his paintings, so it must have that effect on a lot of others. I can't remember exactly where that contest was now, maybe somebody else knows?
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cali Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 09:10 AM
Response to Reply #17
20. I'd love to see that.
I'm going to go google it. If I find a site, I'll post it.
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SpaceCatMeetsMars Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 09:49 AM
Response to Reply #20
29. Might have been fark.com?
I couldn't find it, but I don't have time to look, doing the taxes!
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Lady Effingbroke Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 11:53 AM
Response to Reply #20
49. Found it! :)
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TalkingDog Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 09:51 AM
Response to Reply #17
30. Sounds like a 1000words contest to me. Or Fark.
But I wouldn't even begin to know how to check their archives.
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SpaceCatMeetsMars Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 10:31 AM
Response to Reply #30
33. Yes, I think Fark. n/t
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kurth Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 09:14 AM
Response to Reply #11
22. BUT "He is a modern-day Leonardo da Vinci or Monet"
What a cult.
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bloom Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 10:34 AM
Response to Reply #11
36. Yep
Me too. It's hard to believe anyone thinks his stuff is worth anything.
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Jade Fox Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 11:57 AM
Response to Reply #11
51. "..sentimental, fake, crassly commercial, and...
devoid of any real values."

You've nailed it here. Kinkade stuff is the opposite of Art, since it lacks originality and creativity, and any challenge to the viewer's sensibilities. In short, it epitomizes what happens when Conservatives try to be creative.
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supernova Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 08:56 AM
Response to Original message
14. So, it's a pyramid scheme?
The whole deal with the exclusive galleries, etc... ?

LOL! :rofl: :rofl: Couldn't happen to a worse SOB!
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leftyladyfrommo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 09:04 AM
Response to Reply #14
16. I Don't Think Any Real Art People Would Touch His Stuff
He is way over exposed. There are even these little cheap figurines out with his art on them. Nothing he has done will be worth anything.
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supernova Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 09:09 AM
Response to Reply #16
19. Oh hell no,
He's got some technical ability, in a paint by numbers sorta way, but there's most definitely no soul there, no great passion.

It's for people who want art, but don't want to do the work of connecting with truely good art.
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bedazzled Donating Member (584 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 09:12 AM
Response to Original message
21. i always had a visceral aversion to his "work" and now i know why
imagine, comparing that schlock to da vinci. that poor soul needs some help - an emergency museum trip, maybe.

nah, too far gone...
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salin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 09:18 AM
Response to Original message
23. Never heard of him...
or his paintings.
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TalkingDog Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 09:18 AM
Response to Original message
24. MUST ....KILL ....KINKADE ....Aaaaarrrrghh.....
Edited on Sun Mar-05-06 09:25 AM by TalkingDog
"This is God-given talent," she said of a favored print, "Sierra Evening Majesty," with its snowy peaks, red-gold skies and smoke wisping from a cabin chimney. "He is a modern-day Leonardo da Vinci or Monet. There is no one in our generation who can paint like that."

OH MY GOD!!!

I'm going to send her a couple of image of my work and tell her to stuff her Kinkade's up her ass.

This man is the bane of every serious artist's existance. And the sad thing is, because many people value them, they will hold on to them and pass them along to their children. Eventually the work will take on true worth simply because it is old and more rare than it had been. It will take on ...shudder...legitimacy.


On Edit: see this woman's web page... Wow!

http://members.aol.com/karendelac/
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cali Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 09:30 AM
Response to Reply #24
27. Never. Ever. Ever
It will not take on legitimacy as time passes, and like garbage in landfills it will never degrade. There's a gazillion of the vile things out there. Like roaches, Kinkades will survive the ages.

I sympathize with your primal urge. I feel the same way.
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flygal Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 11:25 AM
Response to Reply #24
43. She's a bushie too
just more proof these people have absolutely no taste whatsoever. My pukie in-laws have the most tacky taste too.
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TalkingDog Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 11:38 AM
Response to Reply #43
47. Also check out the " gallery" of her portraits....Plastic Much? Fake Much?
The kind of woman Trannies love to love. Dolly Parton-esque. Overdone, over-made, hyper feminine and sacchrine. No wonder she loves Kinkade. He's painting the equivalent of her look.



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Poll_Blind Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 04:49 PM
Response to Reply #47
62. OMG, that lady is messed up and, oh, a LITTLE self-absorbed... n/t
PB
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Retrograde Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 05:23 PM
Response to Reply #24
63. So he must be good
Edited on Sun Mar-05-06 05:33 PM by Retrograde
"Thomas Kinkade is the only living artist who has sold more paintings than Vincent Van Gogh, Monet, Picasso, Gaugin, and Leonardo Da Vinci combined." Wow, he must be good!

If you know of anyone who's planning to replace their Van Goghs, Picassos, etc. with the Modern Master, let me know - I'll be happy to take that old inferior stuff off their hands at no charge!

I walked past the Thomas Kincade Repository in Pacific Grove, CA a few weeks ago. I did not stop in, so I can't tell you just what reposes there.

ETA: How did that old hack Leonardo get a print in with the Kincades? And on what planet did Kincaid paint those so-called San Francisco scenes - they just don't feel right to me. And either the people in those paintings have been up all night or the sun is setting in the east...

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sofedup Donating Member (160 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 09:21 AM
Response to Original message
25. My husband is acquainted with him...
...even before he made a brazillion dollars he was arrogant. I've heard that his sales are down- hope it's true.
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leftyladyfrommo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 09:30 AM
Response to Reply #25
28. I think we will see his demise here shortly.
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koopie57 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 10:10 AM
Response to Original message
31. I think all his paintings look alike
the same painting, different seasons and that is the extent of his work.
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Retrograde Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 05:41 PM
Response to Reply #31
65. the same place, the same light
Edited on Sun Mar-05-06 05:43 PM by Retrograde
I looked at the pictures on the website mentioned above - it appears he paints the same scene over and over, and just gives it a different name: yesterday it was "New York Street Scene", now stick an Eiffel Tower in the background and call it "Paris Street Scene": tomorrow we'll put in a Big Ben-like clock and call it "View of London". Boring.
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BlackVelvet04 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 10:29 AM
Response to Original message
32. His work is hideous.....
and doesn't someone else finish them? Seems to me I read that somewhere.

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goforit Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 10:39 AM
Response to Reply #32
39. Yes others finish his work and I believe it is computer enhanced.
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doni_georgia Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 10:33 AM
Response to Original message
34. Here in the Baptist Hinterland Kinkaid shit is on sale EVERYWHERE
Even at the oil change place they had coffee mugs with his prints on them. Of course those Home Interior parties are big where I live too, with tacky prints, matching candle holders and metalic crosses to hang on wall all in a predesigned arrangement. I was invited to a wedding shower for a co-worker last year that was one of those parties. You weren't supposed to bring a gift, but instead buy her a present from this party. They had all sorts of Kinkaid stuff. I bought nothing and instead got her a gift card to Target.
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arkie dem Donating Member (279 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 10:33 AM
Response to Original message
35. I wouldn't trade ....
one Bullfighting Velvet Elvis for ten KinkAdes!!!:puke:
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TalkingDog Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 11:31 AM
Response to Reply #35
44. Hey! I've GOT a black velvet Elvis painting (with a lei)
above my coffee maker (well, whad'ya expect? he needs some sort of buzz to keep him happy) and even though I only paid 5 bucks for it, I literally would not trade it for every f*cking Kinkade on the planet.

Well, okay, I take that back. If I had them all, then I could burn them. No wait... I would gather up all my friends, we would all crap on them, then we could burn them.

Did I mention how much I detest his work?

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Dr. Jones Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 10:34 AM
Response to Original message
37. Holey MOLEY.
I have one piece of artwork from Kincaid, it was a gift. As of today it's coming off my wall.

Whoah! Thanks for this.
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elehhhhna Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-06-06 07:35 PM
Response to Reply #37
81. ebay that thing, pronto!
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goforit Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 10:38 AM
Response to Original message
38. His artwork always looked cheap to me. Faux painting.
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DemonFighterLives Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 10:50 AM
Response to Original message
40. More snake oil
for the easily led.
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northzax Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 10:53 AM
Response to Original message
41. ok, let's be careful now
Personally, Kincade's work inspires no emotion in me at all, (and alas, my girlfriend's parents, wonderful people, have one they treasure) to me that is the epitome of bad art, something that simply makes me go, "eh" if I have to look at it. But the fact remains that many people, including the aforementioned future in-laws, love his work, and it makes them happy. Fine.

two things: never buy art as an investment, unless you're spending real money (and by real money, I mean 2 million+, or maybe an etching for a couple of hundred grand. It's a sucker's game, for the most part, you don't know enough to make a good deal (and by 'you' I mean everyone in the world) buy it because you like it, because it means something to you, or for a multitude of other reasons, but not as an investment.

second, Kincade is apparently an asshole, from this story, but don't go all elitist and extend that to the people who have bought, and enjoy, his work. that's just snobbbery.
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Ilsa Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 11:58 AM
Response to Reply #41
52. I appreciate you saying the first thing about it being an investment...
Edited on Sun Mar-05-06 11:58 AM by Ilsa
I heard on PBS twenty years ago that even then, you would have to spend somehting like $5,000 on an item to be in the investment category to have a shot at appreciation. And even then, make sure it is a piece you like because there are no guarantees you'll get your money back. Stick with items you like for room decoration.

I don't get anything out of his work, either. It holds no interest for me.
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pansypoo53219 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-06-06 01:01 AM
Response to Reply #52
70. ha! 5000?
pfft. i got a 1878 etching 1/2 price! for $5 at an estate sale and founf out he was estemed in his time and joined the hudson river school(i love hudson river, but his paintings were lesser works), so i now have a hudson river work! i got 10 small oil paintings/oil sketches for $20 and another estate sale of a 1800's-1930 Swiss immigrant. who IS in a nearby museum and is a known artist. were horribly dirty from charcoal, and i cleaned them off with acetone. LOOK AT THAT BLUE! they all are beautiful. i sold one to e-pal, gave 2 away and am hoarding the rest. and then i discovered an asian amateur(war bride). she was kinda quirky and i got 2 cat paintings. one unfinished, so susuko and i did a painting.
i have gotten a few things at art fairs. you can start smaller that 5000.
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Batgirl Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 10:55 AM
Response to Original message
42. I guess this shouldn't come as a surprise
He claims the role of populist fighting against the forces of snobbishness producing visual Muzak and giving people images they enjoy looking at. He talks about himself in these glowing, heroic terms:
"When the critics attack me for utilizing common themes and visual devices, they simply need to understand it is part of my plan to create an art that can help shape a culture," he says. "This is art with an agenda - and that is to be a force for good in the culture in which we live and to be an antidote for the ugliness we see on the evening news."

But this sort of remark is more revealing:
"My paintings go into a home and they are not put in a closet - they are enshrined front and center in people's lives," he says. "Imagine the power of that platform. Imagine what Nike would give to have their swoosh logo enshrined front and center in 40 million homes."

In other words, this pretense of being on some holy mission of bringing art to the masses is merely camouflage for an insatiable marketing scheme pandering to the tastes of people he doesn't respect. He's even branched out into home accessories like furniture and mugs, which he sells on television. I read in Salon a few years ago about a Thomas Kinkade housing development: http://www.salon.com/mwt/style/2002/03/18/kinkade_village/

People have been buying shlocky fake paintings for a hell of a long time. I well remember being a little kid walking through Kmart and staring at the garish bull fighters and storm tossed schooners. This guy just managed to make a fortune by putting a brand on it, so in a way he's a perfect symbol of our era.

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Marie26 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 11:31 AM
Response to Reply #42
45. Schlocky brand name
There's even a series of novels "based upon the paintings of Thomas Kinkade." :eyes: I kind of like Kinkade as a metaphor for the Republicans, using comforting images of home & family to hide a relentless corporate marketing agenda.
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MissMarple Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 04:24 PM
Response to Reply #42
61. And he thinks he's an "idol".
On being asked about inappropriate touching, ie. grabbing a woman's breasts:

"But you've got to remember," he said, "I'm the idol to these women who are there. They sell my work every day, you know. They're enamored with any attention I would give them. I don't know what kind of flirting they were trying to do with me. I don't recall what was going on that night.""


Can I interest anyone in a quite lovely and very collectible portrait of Elvis inspirationally painted on black velvet?
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mitchum Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 11:45 AM
Response to Original message
48. His work is just kitsch and he is a pompous jackass
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Bia Donating Member (3 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 11:56 AM
Response to Original message
50. Thanks for the Reality Check on Kincaid!
Glad it's not just ME who thinks his art is SCHLOCK!

someone actually once accused me of SUCCESS Envy ( phrasing it kinda like it was "penis envy" or something!)
Gimme a break! I may be a relatively unknown artist, but my stuff ROCKS compared to that cotton candy TK puts out!
Check out my newest contribution to the Political Art scene, a new cartoon Super-Heroine for Our Times:

and watch her kick some serious Neocon BUTT!
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Bia Donating Member (3 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 12:05 PM
Response to Original message
53. Thanx for the Reality Check on Kincaid!
Glad it's not just ME who thinks his art is SCHLOCK!

someone actually once accused me of SUCCESS Envy ( phrasing it kinda like it was "penis envy" or something!)
Gimme a break! I may be a relatively unknown artist, but my stuff ROCKS compared to that cotton candy TK puts out!
Check out my newest contribution to the Political Art scene, a new cartoon
Super-Heroine for Our Times:

RealityChickComix.com

and watch her kick some serious Neocon BUTT!
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OPERATIONMINDCRIME Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 03:26 PM
Response to Original message
55. Never Knew That About Him. I Do Think His Paintings Are Brilliant Though!
Edited on Sun Mar-05-06 03:27 PM by OPERATIONMINDCRIME
I always loved Kinkade's work. I'll still enjoy his paintings, but at least now I have more perspective on the person painting them.
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Gabi Hayes Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 03:48 PM
Response to Reply #55
58. a most appropriate Kinkade circular gallery
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Gabi Hayes Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 03:49 PM
Response to Reply #58
59. Koko love good art!
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OPERATIONMINDCRIME Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 04:01 PM
Response to Reply #58
60. Not Sure Of Your Point. His Art Is Brilliant Though. I Love Them.
Shame he's a prick though, but that won't stop me from enjoying his brilliant artwork! :)
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kwyjibo Donating Member (612 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-06-06 05:48 PM
Response to Reply #55
78. How are his paintings brilliant?
This guy basically sums up the intellectual depth of Kinkade's work:

"It's mainstream art, not art you have to look at to try to understand, or have an art degree to know whether it's good or not," said Mike Koligman, a longtime fan who with his wife owns Kinkade galleries in San Diego and Utah.

I'm not saying you shouldn't like it, just wondering about your choice of words.
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OPERATIONMINDCRIME Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-06-06 06:58 PM
Response to Reply #78
80. He's A Brilliant Artist. Though There Are Copycats Now, He Started The
style, and it is an incredibly beautiful and unique style. Just very warm, positive and beautiful paintings. I think they're brilliant, whether he's a prick or not.

But to each their own.
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Gabi Hayes Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 03:46 PM
Response to Original message
57. genius




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Gabi Hayes Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 05:32 PM
Response to Reply #57
64. replace first of above three with this
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blm Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 05:44 PM
Response to Original message
66. Typical Republican.
.
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Gabi Hayes Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 05:48 PM
Response to Reply #66
67. sorta like....
Monet meets Teletubbies set designer
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Jane Austin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-05-06 08:07 PM
Response to Original message
68. I had no idea people bought Kinkaid paintings.
His work almost dominates the jigsaw puzzle catalogs from which I order dog and cat-themed puzzles, but I didn't realize he sold expensive prints.

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pansypoo53219 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-06-06 12:41 AM
Response to Original message
69. aha, but what i like
as a painter, is now he is trying to paint 'worthy' art, and he can't fucking pant it. he can only fake crap. i may not be rich, but he ain't gonna be in a museum.
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anitar1 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-06-06 02:12 AM
Response to Original message
72. So christian! So many hide behind the name. n/t
I won't even go into a christian owned store anymore.
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I_Make_Mistakes Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-06-06 02:35 AM
Response to Reply #72
73. My neighbor went on vacation to New England and came back
with a Kincaide painting. She said it was going to be worth a lot in the future and wanted to buy more. I used to collect art (not high end $200-600 range) because I liked the unique nature of the original work, and to be honest, most of it was from MANNA, a charity auction (it's an organization that feeds home bound aids patients), It was a win-win purchase.

Anyways, her painting lacked creativity, originality, inspiration, etc. there was nothing special about it, except the marketing campaign. Did you know there are hidden hearts, hearts is a theme that manipulates sensitive people (I'm a sucker for hearts too, well, not so much anymore).
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Lisa Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-06-06 05:06 PM
Response to Original message
74. I've just got this mental picture of him heckling Siegfried and Roy ....
Edited on Mon Mar-06-06 05:15 PM by Lisa
... while drunk. Yikes! I suppose he will be the poster boy for "what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas".



p.s. what earlier posters said about finding his pictures "creepy" -- yes, that sums up the type of unease I often feel. Especially those too-perfect-to-be-true English villages (in particular, the ones which appear to have a maze of canals). I always wondered what was up, since the real places don't look like that.

I later found out that there is a new housing development in California, which has been landscaped to look like his paintings. That's what he's doing -- he's showing the North American consumerist expectation of a quaint old English cottage, all modern conveniences, and no leaky roof or bad plumbing.
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troubleinwinter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-06-06 05:19 PM
Response to Original message
75. It's my life.
Close in-law is a long-time world-famous artist.

A misogynistic, obscene, conceited, cruel, revolting asshole. He acts this way in public at gallery openings, restaurants and other occasions, and people (particularly women) just fall at his feet and eat it up. They act like he is a god... he is a hater and damaging and destructive.

But, hey, he is a 'famous celebrity'.
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mindfulNJ Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-06-06 05:28 PM
Response to Original message
76. Oh GOD
I absolutely hate Thomas Kinkaid, the Nicholas Sparks of painting, and I'm not at all surprised that he's an asshole.
The guy who painted the "happy little trees" on PBS was better than him.
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Ron Green Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-06-06 06:21 PM
Response to Reply #76
79. Bob Ross, who painted the "happy little trees,"
was a really good man, I believe, who openly shared his techniques and showed lots of amateur painters some of the good secrets of creating landscapes. This guy Kinkade seems to be quite the opposite: A charlatan who sells prints and "enhanced prints" of his kitschy crap to masses of people who think they're investing in something.
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trixie Donating Member (696 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-06-06 05:36 PM
Response to Original message
77. He is now writing childrens books
:puke:
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